Micropipette dispenser

ABSTRACT

A DISPENSER FOR MICROPIPETTES AND THE LIKE INCLUDING A STORAGE AREA FOR CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF PIPETTES, MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING THE PIPETTES ONE AT A TIME FROM SAID STORAGE AREA   TO A REMOVAL AREA, AND A REMOVAL AREA ADAPTED TO RECEIVE AND CONTAIN A SINGLE PIPETTE IN A POSITION CONVENIENT FOR REMOVAL.

Unite States Patent lnventors Anthony Giangarra Hasbrouck Heights: Kenneth J. Cybulsky, East Paterson, NJ. Appl. No. 719,532 Filed Apr. 8, 1968 Patented June 28, 1971 Assignee Becton, Dickinson and Company East Rutherford, NJ.

MICROPIPETTE DISPENSER 1 Claim, 6 Drawing F@.

U.S.Cl 221/174, 221/196, 221/197 Int. Cl 823g 7/00 Field of Search 221/174,

l94-7, 237, 266, 277. 287; 222/325 (lnquired) [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,294,979 9/1942 Goldberg 221/266X Primary Examiner-Stanley H. Tollberg Assistant Examiner- David A. Scherbel Att0meyl(ane, Dalsimer, Kane, Sullivan and Kurucz ABSTRACT: A dispenser for micropipettes and the like including a storage area for containing a plurality of pipettes, means for transporting the pipettes one at a time from said storage area to a removal area, and a removal area adapted to receive and contain a single pipette in a position convenient for removal.

PATENTEU JUN28\8H 3587.921

' sum 2 OF 2 FIG 3 BY a o g w M ATTORNEYS MICROPIPETTE DISPENSER BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Laboratory and research installations utilize pipettes or capillary tubes in large numbers and for a wide variety of uses. These tubes are usually quite small and fragile and hence often are damaged during handling before they are ever utilized. Further, because of their small size and fragility they are difficult to handle and store. This is especially true since such products are most often made of glass and any breakage that does occur might result in dangerously sharp edges which would produce hazardous conditions within the laboratory. In addition, unless the pipettes are properly stored, there is a danger that the pipettes might become contaminated before they are used and therefore adversely affect the results of any procedure in which they are used.

In the commonly assigned application bearing Ser. No. 719,173 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,264 a pipette holder is disclosed which may be used to secure pipettes during use. The present invention relates to a container designed to dispense such pipettes one at a time to a holder of the type described in the above-referenced application or to any holder capable of gripping a single pipette or capillary tube.

Thus, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a pipette dispenser designed to contain a plurality of pipettes in a environment where they will be relatively free from contamination and the possibility of breakage is minimized and to provide means for feeding such pipettes one at a time, as required, to a holder designed to secure the same during use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These and other objects and advantages are most effectively attained in accordance with the present invention by providing a housing having portions adapted to store a plurality of pipettes, means communicating with the storage area for transporting pipettes one at a time from the storage area to a removal area, and a removal area which may include means thereon for cooperating with the gripping means of a pipette holder in securing the pipette to the holder. The storage area may be further adapted to receive a preloaded magazine or cartridge which has previously been filled with a plurality of pipettes so that the laboratory technician need never come in actual physical contact with the individual pipettes or capillary tubes.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pipette dispenser produced in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational sectional view of the dispenser of FIG. 1 depicting a pipette holder in phantom in position to receive a pipette I FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the reference line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view identical with FIG. 3 depicting the manner of loading the storage area of the dispenser from a magazine;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIGS. 3 and 4 depicting the manner of transporting a single pipette to the removal area; and,

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a magazine used to load the dispenser of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Reference is now made to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1 wherein a pipette dispenser in accordance with the present invention is depicted as including a housing having a front panel 22 disposed at an acute angle with respect to base 24 and having surfaces defining openings into several compartments extending into the housing interior. A storage compartment formed within the housing and defined by rear wall 26 and cylindrical sidewall 28 is adapted to receive :1

cylindrical magazine 30 of the type depicted in FIG. 6. It should be noted that the storage compartment as well as the other compartments within the housing which will be described forthwith extend inwardly and downwardly into the housing interior so that gravity cooperates in retaining the housing contents within the several compartments. The rear wall of the storage compartment includes a raised key section 32 extending forwardly therefrom and adapted to engage the depressed keyway 34 extending across the rear surface 36 of magazine 30.

. Magazine 30 comprises a container having cylindrical sidewalls 38 to which a front panel 40 is rigidly affixed. -A knob 42 extends outwardly from the front panel 40. A slit 44 extends the length of container 30 defining an opening into the container interior. The arc defined by slit 44 is substantial in comparison to the diameter of the pipettes 46 contained therein so that if the container were positioned with slit 44 downward, the pipettes would freely fall out through the slit. Rear panel 48 is rotatably mounted to the rear end of the cylindrical sidewall 38 and elongated closure member 50 is affixed to panel 48 and extends into the container interior adjacent the inner surface of sidewalls 38. Closure 50 comprises a cylindrical segment concentric with sidewall 38 and adapted, when properly positioned, to seal the opening 44 into the container interior. Thus, rotation of end panel 48 with respect to sidewall 38 will determine whether opening 44 is open or sealed by closure 50. Keyway 34 extends across the rear of end panel 48 and is adapted to engage the key extending across the rear of the storage compartment so that when a sealed magazine is inserted within the housing so that key 32 of the housing engages the keyway of the magazine, the magazine may be opened merely by rotating knob 42. Referencing indicia 52, 54, and 56 is provided on the magazine front panel and housing front to facilitate proper insertion and alignment of the magazine into the housing interior and to indicate to the technician at a glance whether or not the magazine has been opened. In this regard, it should be noted that for proper operation the magazine 30 should be disposed within the storage compartment with slit 44 located in such position that when the magazine is opened, the pipettes contained therein will fall into hopper 58 as shown in FIG. 4. Thus, a sealed magazine 30 may be inserted into the storage compartment as depicted in FIG. 3 being sure that key 32 and keyway 34 engage. Knob 42 is then rotated while the key and keyway retain the closure in the same position so that magazine 30 shifts to the position depicted in FIG. 4. In this position, slit 44 is directly above hopper 58 and since the closure has been removed, the ipettes 36 contained within the magazine will be gravity fed into the hopper 58.

Hopper 58 comprises a downwardly tapering cavity the top of which communicates with the bottom of the magazine receiving compartment and the bottom of which communicates with the pipette transport means 60.

Transport means 60 comprises a cylindrical member rotatably mounted within a cavity extending into the housing interior spaced vertically below and communicating with the bottom hopper 58. The diameter of the transport member is substantially the same as the bore of the cavity designed to receive it thereby making it impossible for a pipette to slip from the hopper between the transport and its receiving cavity. A groove 62 extends across the transport from end to end. The depth and width of groove 62 are somewhat greater than the diameter of any single pipette contained within magazine 30 but not twice as great so that when the transport 60 is positioned as depicted in FIG. 4 with groove 62 disposed directly below hopper 58, only a single pipette 36a will fall into groove 62. Control knob 64 is affixed to the front end of transporter 60 and is positioned outside the housing. Thus, the dispenser operator, may by rotating knob 64, rotate the transport means 60 so that a pipette 36 will be transported from the storage area to the removal area 66 as depicted in FIG. 5.

The removal area 66 also comprises a cavity extending into the housing interior and it is located below the cavity adapted to receive the transport 60. The removal area cavity is connected to the transport cavity by vertical channel 68, the upper end 70 of which is enlarged to guide pipette 36a from the transport so that when the transport is rotated, pipette 360 will drop from the transport through the channel onto shoulder 74. Shoulder 74 extends forwardly from the rear wall 65 of removal area 66 for some distance less than the entire length of the cavity forming this area. The height of shoulder 74 is such that the center of a pipette resting on the shoulder will be disposed in the center of the removal area so that the gripping means or chuck 72 of a pipette holder 75 which is inserted into the area through opening 78 on the front wall of the housing will align with the pipette. The length of shoulder 74 determines and limits the degree of penetration of pipette 36 within the holder and in this regard, the front wall 76 of shoulder 74 serves as a stop to prevent over insertion.

As was previously mentioned the transport control knob 64 is rotatably mounted to the front of the housing and rigidly coupled to the transporter so that rotation of knob 64 results in rotation of transporter 60. Knob 64 is a generally circular member the radius of which exceeds the distance by which the removal area is spaced below transport so that portions of the knob 64 will cover the surfaces of the housing defining the opening 78 into the removal area 66. A suitable opening 79 is provided in knob 64 to permit the technician to insert a holder 75 into the removal area and thereby remove a pipette.

The interior of housing is further divided into number of compartments suitable for the storage of surplus magazines 80 and 82 or to contain holder 75.

It should be understood that modifications may be made in the illustrated and described embodiments of our invention without departing from the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.

We claim:

1. A pipette dispenser comprising in combination: a housing; a first elongated cavity extending into said housing interior defining a storage area adapted to receive a magazine containing a plurality of pipettes; a second elongated cavity extending into said housing interior defining a removal area, said removal area being disposed below said storage area; a third elongated cylindrical cavity extending into the housing interior, said third cavity being disposed intermediate and tangent to said storage area and removal area cavities; transporting means comprising an elongated cylindrical member rotatably mounted within and substantially filling said third cavity; wherein said transporting means cylindrical member includes a groove extending longitudinally thereon, the depth and width of said groove being greater than the diameter of a single pipette to be associated therewith but less than twice said diameter whereby said cylindrical member may be rotated from a first position at which gravity will cause a single pipette to fall from said storage area into said groove to a second position at which gravity will cause said single pipette to fall from said groove into said removal area; and a magazine comprising a cylindrical tube having a longitudinal slit therein defining an opening into the magazine interior, a first end panel rigidly affixed to one end of said tube, a second end panel rotatably mounted to the opposite end of said tube, a closure panel rigidly affixed to said second end panel and adapted to rotate therewith from a first position at which said magazine is sealed to a second position at which the contents of the magazine are free to be removed through said slit. 

